Oh... I skipped two months again... Oops.
Ah, well, once again, thank you all for your reviews; they made me so happy :D I hope even though I haven't been very consistent lately, you still find this story enjoyable.
I should write more... The weather's nice... I don't have a ridiculous amount of homework... And I'm not doing anything for Valentine's Day... (Lol, unfortunately this isn't a very appropriate chapter for that occasion...)
I'll just warn you that I'm having issues with the next chapter, so it might not be up very soon because of editing. Meh. :P
Chapter Three: Façades
Claire woke up the next morning with a headache. It pounded through her skull with every pulse of the buzzing noise that had jolted her out of sleep. She sighed and slapped a hand on her alarm clock to stop the offending noise, and the first thing she saw was the purple material of General Ballad's headband. She groaned. Why hadn't she returned that to him last night? There was going to be hell to pay when he discovered that it was missing this morning.
She rolled out of bed, dressed, and trudged down the stairs into the common room. There she found Noel standing next to the empty fireplace. She had to exercise all of her self-control in order not to start a fire right there and throw the headband into it.
"Noel," she began, "I'm just going to apologize right now and get it over with."
Noel frowned. "What? Did we do something we shouldn't have last night?" he asked.
"Sort of," she muttered and then amended, "But probably not in the way you're thinking." She held out the headband.
His eyes widened. "What the hell?" He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his forehead. "That's right. Dammit, that's right… I dared you to steal it."
Claire nodded. "Yeah. And you never dared me to return it."
"Okay, I get it," he said. "Oh man… I think we're really all going to die."
"That's why I came to apologize. And also, I don't know what to do with this. I can't just leave it here. If someone finds it, he'll stick us all in solitary… And I wouldn't put it past him to try to put the entire squad in there at once."
Noel snorted. "As terrible as that is, I don't disagree."
"What do we do?" Claire asked.
"What's going on?" A voice interrupted their conversation, and they both turned around to see Fang walking toward them. "Who died? You two look like you just saw a ghost."
"Um, remember how last night, I dared Claire to go into General Ballad's office and steal his headband?" Noel asked.
Fang squinted as though she were trying to remember. "Yeah, I think so. Maybe."
"Well," Noel said slowly, "she still has it."
A look of realization passed over Fang's face as she took in what Noel was saying, and her eyes widened. "No," she said.
Noel shrugged. "I don't know what else to say."
Claire held up the piece of purple fabric.
"Throw it in the damn incinerator. You can't let him see you with that, especially not after yesterday." Fang shook her head, planting one hand on her hip.
"I'll just say that I found it on the ground somewhere," Claire reasoned. "And that I was planning on giving it back to him."
"Do you think he's gonna buy that lie?" Fang asked. "You're, like, number one on his hit list right now. He'll suspect you no matter what you say."
"Maybe," Claire sighed.
"Just go into the lobby and drop it," Noel suggested.
Claire snorted. "You're coming with me, then," she said. "And you're taking the fall if we get caught."
"What? But I didn't pick up his headband!" he protested.
"You're the one who dared me to do it in the first place," Claire said. She smiled. "Hey, remember? It's the first week. We can consider this one of our 'get-to-know-you' games."
"Ooh," Fang commented. "Nice one, Claire. Sorry, Noel."
"No problem," he muttered, staring down at his boots.
"I need to run to the other side of campus to get Vanille," Fang said. "Good luck getting rid of that. If I see General Ballad, I'll try to distract him."
"Great," Noel and Claire both said unenthusiastically.
"See you later," Claire told her.
She dashed off, leaving Noel and Claire alone in the common room. They stared at the floor, and then at each other, neither of them speaking. Finally Claire held up the purple swatch of fabric.
"Wanna get this off our hands?" she offered.
"Yeah," he sighed.
They began the jog toward the main building. Once inside, they retraced their steps to the lobby. Glancing around to make sure General Ballad was nowhere in sight, Claire let the headband slip from her fingers and continued running.
"What's the fastest way to the training grounds?" she asked Noel over her shoulder.
"Take a right and cut through the cafeteria," Noel said. "Assuming the cafeteria's even open."
"If it's not, remember who's taking the fall," Claire reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Noel answered. "Just go."
Claire breathed a silent sigh of relief when she saw that the cafeteria's doors were, in fact, open. She had her eye on the far doors when her vision was blocked by the sight of a man's broad chest clad in black armor.
"What are you two doing here at this time of day?" a voice demanded.
Claire fought the urge to roll her eyes as she followed the chest up to the neck and the face of the man in front of them. General Ballad. Of course. "We're on our way to training, sir," Noel answered before she could get a word out.
She shot him a look as if to say, I was going to tell him that his hair looks shitty without its headband, but Noel barely bothered to return the glance.
"You know you are not supposed to take this route to training," General Ballad admonished, completely ignoring the fact that they actually were going to training. "You are supposed to take the route around the building."
"He forgot," Claire cut in, linking her arm with Noel's and pulling him to the side. "We'll be going now."
General Ballad glared over his shoulder at them as they disappeared out the cafeteria's back door.
After the door slammed shut behind them, Claire collapsed against the wall, and Noel doubled over with his hands on his knees. At first Claire thought he was trying to catch his breath, but after a second she realized he was laughing. She stared at him with growing annoyance, finally interrupting, "What the hell is so funny?"
"Did you see his face?" Noel gasped. "Oh my God, that was great. We're all going to die in training today."
Claire rolled her eyes and sighed. "Wow. Brilliant, Noel."
"Hey," he said. "Let's get outta here."
"Yeah." Claire sighed and jogged after him.
They stopped at the edge of the training area where they'd worked yesterday. Claire could see Fang standing in her spot in the ranks. Thankfully, General Ballad was nowhere in sight.
"Later, Claire," Noel said and turned to run to his spot. Claire stared reluctantly after him before finally deciding to proceed to her own.
Five minutes later, General Ballad paced in front of the ranks. The soldiers stood at attention while he stared at them. For a minute Claire thought his gaze was fixed on her, and she held her breath until she was sure his eyes had moved.
Finally he spoke. "Soldiers!" he barked, his voice creating a spike of an echo throughout the area. "Your squad has an assignment to carry out."
"The minefield mission," a voice said behind her.
"What was that?" General Ballad snapped. When no one answered, he stopped pacing and faced the lines. "Care to speak up?" he snarled.
"It's the minefield mission," the voice said again. Claire stifled a cringe when she realized that the voice belonged to Fang. Why did her only friends have to be the people General Ballad was going to kill before they would ever get out in the field? "The mission where everyone who isn't gonna make it gets taken out."
A smirk pulled at the edge of General Ballad's mouth, and he laughed. "I suppose that is one way you could put it," he agreed. "The assignment is to make it to an abandoned base on the other side of enemy lines. You will all face this assignment. But it is a fact that not all of you will make it through this assignment."
His eyes met Claire's, and she stared him down. He broke eye contact first.
"The assignment will take place tomorrow—after training."
A few people cried out in protest that there would be training just before an assignment, but General Ballad quickly silenced them with a few withering looks.
"And so without further ado," he said quietly, "we'll begin training. Twenty push-ups, all of you."
When training was over, the trainees broke from their ranks and walked off toward the cafeteria. Claire had spotted Fang and had started to make an attempt to catch up with her when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She froze, spinning slowly around to face General Ballad and his lavender hair.
"Farron," he began.
Claire gritted her teeth. She could see it now: Farron, I know you stole my headband. Give it back or I'll shoot you myself. Yeah, right.
"Try not to ruin it for yourself," he said. "I believe you can make it through the assignment."
He released her shoulder from his grip, turned his back, and disappeared.
Claire squinted after him, trying to figure out what had just happened. Had he just complimented her? Or maybe it had been an insult. She wasn't sure.
I think you can make it.
She turned and jogged back toward the cafeteria. She debated telling Fang about the incident, but seconds later decided against it. Better not to complicate things. And besides, her new squad buddy thought their general was "kind of hot."
Claire got her tray and navigated the cafeteria to find Fang and the others at their table. Vanille and Hope, the two medics-in-training, had already arrived and taken their seats. Claire sat down next to Fang, hoping not to interrupt the conversation.
"Hey, sunshine," Fang said. "You look pleased. What was the holdup?"
"Holdup? I just… uh… took a while getting my food," Claire lied.
"Oh, come on. I can see a lie ten miles away, Claire Farron," Fang said, clapping the pink-haired soldier on the shoulder. "Let's hear it. Did General Ballad chew you out, or what?"
"Um, actually—" Claire began.
At that moment, another soldier dropped into the seat next to her, leaning in and adding, "Yeah, did General Ballad chew you out, Claire?"
Claire rolled her eyes. "Are you kidding me," she muttered under her breath.
"Aw, hey, is that the kind of greeting I get? I said I was sorry," Noel said.
"No, you didn't," Fang and Claire said at the same time.
"Oh," Noel said. "Oh. Yeah. Well, I'm saying it now. What happened?"
"Well," Claire began, taking a deep breath. "Actually, he told me not to ruin it for myself because he thinks I can make it through our first assignment."
Fang and Noel's silence even drew the attention of Hope and Vanille, who stared at the three of them from across the table.
"He didn't say that," Noel said finally.
"You made that up," Fang agreed.
"I swear to God, I didn't make it up," Claire said, holding her hands out in front of her.
"He didn't mention the headband?" Fang asked.
"Not once," Claire said.
"That… doesn't make any sense," Fang said slowly.
"Yeah, um, no offense," Noel added, "but I was pretty sure he hated you, Claire."
"None taken," Claire answered. "I thought the same thing."
"So now I guess we gotta face facts," Fang said.
"Meaning…?"
"He actually doesn't hate you," Fang and Noel said in unison.
Claire buried her face in her hands.
"Oh God, that's worse. That's definitely worse," she said.